Just for fun, the email marketing group here at Sitebrand dressed up as the e-Team, featuring:

The Conversion Countess (Gen)
The Princess of Permission - (Alison)
The Clickthrough Queen - (Carolyn)
The Duchess of Deliverability (Kelly)

What’s up with the lack of buzz about web personalization?

When compared to email marketing, I swear it’s like the forgotten child. Google email marketing and there’s an endless supply of blogging inspiration. There are studies galore, case studies, trend reports and so on. And these become the catalysts for so much fun discussion, right? Yes, and we love it, right? (Hint: Yes = right answer)

Google web personalization and it’s less of a fairy tale. Perhaps it’s because it’s still not entirely mainstream? Who really knows, but regarless, I’d like a little more inspiration from our publishing friends please! And let’s not forget our analyst friends too! Why don’t more analysts write about the power of web personalization - specifically how it relates to web site experiences, e-commerce and ultimately online conversion?  

I’m not just making this information gap up either. Before posting I did a little Google homework and here are the results:

Search for “Web Personalization” - 1,950,000 results

Search for “Email Marketing” - 379,000,000 results

Not even 2M results for Web Personalization and a whopping 379M results for Email Marketing!  If you’ve got an explanation, I’d love to hear it!

In the retail space, we typically see two types of emails:

1. Planned, but non-triggered emails based on overall marketing strategies
2. Triggered emails based on behaviors or subscriber data  

Judging from most of our inboxes, the planned non-triggered type emails tend to be most prevalent. They’re often part of a bigger marketing blitz that could include direct mail, catalogs, etc.  They can be one-hit wonders or a special series of weekly or monthly type broadcasts related to seasons or buying behaviors.  And they often feature sales or the announcement of new products. To call them proactive marketing initiatives is totally fair. And kudos to every retailer who sets up a plan to maximize the email channel! To those who don’t, ugh oh …it’s only bad. You’re either taking the spray ‘n pray approach which nets poor results or you’re doing nothing which means you’re leaving huge cash on the table.   Note to self: post on both these tragedies…

When you look at triggered emails, you’ve suddenly got something that’s both proactive and reactive (reactive in the good sense of the word). The proactive part of the equation is easy since you must still have a plan to set up the triggers - yes, they do require a strategy. They can be as simple as the welcome/thanks for signing up email that gets automatically triggered to everyone who successfully opt-ins. (Sadly this isn’t always happening - in fact  Linda Bustos over at Elastic Path took it upon herself to run a little study on how retailers take advantage of the welcome email. To her horror, she discovered that only 1 in 3 triggered the much anticipated welcome email within 24 hours. That’s just the beginning. You should read Linda’s full post titled: Welcome Email Usability Tips for Online Retailers)

Triggered emails are also the very necessary transactional email that confirms a purchase.

But even more exciting are the triggers specifically designed to make or save a sale! Consider the triggers that get sent to anyone who hasn’t made a purchase in the last six months - aka the win-back trigger with the subject line that says: “We want you back!” Or the trigger that recognizes you’ve abandoned your shopping cart. Who knows, maybe your boss walked up to your desk right when you were about to enter your credit card and you had to do the fast exit? Wouldn’t it be nice to be reminded that your cart was still waiting for you and that you had options to order online or by phone!

Without a doubt, triggers should be included in every retailer’s email marketing plan. The technology is waiting…and frankly, so are the online shoppers! Entice us with timely messages at the right time and we’re likely to buy. It’s that simple.

Check out the expected growth in holiday gift cards sales for this holiday season. I’m a huge fan of gift cards - both giving and receiving - so it comes as no surprise.

And I love how retailers are making it easy to buy gift cards just about anywhere you can imagine. This past Father’s Day I really wanted to get my Dad a gift card to BestBuy but I had run out of time so I decided I would simply insert a cheque into a card and suggest he treat himself to something at BestBuy. So I proceeded to Shoppers Drug Mart to buy the card and voila…to my delight they had a whole display of gift cards for a wide variety of retailers INCLUDING BestBuy! Yes, they were reselling some popular retail gift cards and they were doing it right beside the greeting cards! The convenience of this was awesome!

But for retailers who have an online presence - keep pushing gift cards online! According to eMarketer’s stats from last year’s holiday season (I should work for these guys since I reference their stats so often), about 1 out of every 4 gift card purchases were purchased online!

I know when I’m looking to buy something for someone online, I’m always thrilled to go for the gift card. Not everyone knows the convenience of gift cards so smart retailers have to take notice of things like long visits or deep visits that aren’t translating into sales the way they should. Here at Sitebrand, I personalization can come to the rescue. What am I talking about?

Over the holidays, you can expect lots of browsing. If people are hanging around for too long, it might mean they’re not sure what they’re looking for. The typical personalization campaign might message something that says: “Can’t find what you’re looking for? Try our handy search tool!”

But over the holidays, this messaging could be alternated with: “Can’t find that perfect gift? Give a gift card instead!”

Why risk someone giving up and venturing off to another site!? Save the sale with a push on gift cards!

Just another random thought of the day…

The E-Commerce Times recently published “Rules for E-Commerce Startups to Live By” a two-part series covering often overlooked but tremendously important tips for e-Commerce startups.

The reality is it’s much easier to launch an online store than a bricks-and-mortar store, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy! The article touches on some big points that are crucial to success, but unfortunately often overlooked by new e-commerce stores.

Some of the tips from the two parts include:

• Make Sure Your Site Is Easy to Navigate
• Do not Make it difficult for Consumers to find Your Products
• Do Not Forget about Customer Support
• Don’t Abandon the Customer After a Visit
• And more… (Part 1, Part 2)

Some other tips I would add to this article:

Keep the relationship alive with (effective) email
Email marketing is the ultimate relationship tool, but it needs to be done right. Have a prominent email sign up available for browsers who may become buyers at a later date. Also include an email opt-in (un-checked box) on your registration form. Follow up the sign up immediately with a welcome email, and keep your new subscribers happy with relevant, meaningful

Think about International Customers
As a Canadian, this is one of my biggest pet peeves. I go to a site, find something I like, go through the lengthy registration process — only to find out they don’t ship to Canada. Even if you don’t have the means right now to ship to Canada, let me know, because if you ever do in the future I won’t be buying from you after what you put me through!